Sue Higginson, Greens NSW MP and spokesperson for the environment, Media Release, 11 November 2022
The NSW Government is hanging regional councils and koalas out to dry with their latest plan to remove the right of local government to be involved with approvals for private native forestry. The koala wars that have defined the last 4 years of this coalition government are being refuelled under the noses of Liberal ministers and democratically elected councils by The Nationals.
The Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Private Native Forestry) Bill 2022 is just the latest iteration of the NSW Nationals attempting to subvert the ability of local governments to use their consent powers that can approve or refuse private native forestry. The dual consent powers importantly give councils the ability to assess applications by private landholders to log their property and determine whether to approve or deny the logging operation.
The NSW government was brought to the edge of collapse in 2020 by a similar plan by then Deputy Premier John Barilaro when Liberal Member Catherine Cusack and Nationals Member Leslie Williams were forced to challenge their colleagues on a plan that would decimate koala habitat across the state. Catherine Cusack crossed the floor against her own Government to refer similar legislation to a committee for review resulting in her demotion and eventual resignation from the Parliament and Leslie Williams, Member for Port Macquarie, was forced to leave The Nationals and apply for Liberal Party membership after she decided that the threats from John Barilaro to “blow up” the coalition was a bridge too far.
Greens MP and spokesperson for the environment Sue Higginson said “The survival of koalas and the sustainability of our native forests on private lands are being challenged once again.
“Without dual consent, local councils will be faced with no ability to control the integrity of their local environment, koala conservation efforts and escalating costs for damaged infrastructure.
“Private native forestry has the potential for damaging cumulative impacts and the destruction of koala habitat at scale.
“This latest attack on koala habitat has been cloaked by the Minister for Agriculture, Dugald Saunders as an agricultural opportunity for private land holders, but the truth couldn’t be further from this.
“Saunders is attempting to claim private native forest logging is farm forestry, but it is not. Farmed forestry is an intentional production of a timber forestry resource for the explicit purpose of harvesting it at a later date, you must plant it for the purposes of later harvest. What Saunders is actually advocating is the exploitation of our precious native forests, an irreplaceable natural resource, including koala habitat. Koalas will be extinct in the wild before 2050 unless we stop destroying their habitat now.
“The minister has blundered into the trap of assuming that The Nationals will be blindly followed on natural resource policy with the Liberals tripping along in their wake. To his detriment, there are many Liberals members who are genuinely concerned about the ongoing destruction of the environment and koala habitat.
“This legislation is set to be debated next week and the coalition government should be prepared for an internally driven hurricane of dissension as moderate liberals revolt against the shortsighted and destructive ideas of the NSW Nationals.
“Premier Dominic Perrottet should read the writing on the wall and recognise that his Government is walking on a precipice on the verge of the 2023 election, that people want the environment and koalas protected and that refuelling the koala wars may well be a deadly move for koalas and his Government”.
Related stories: Farm Forestry Bill supports timber industry and koalas: Gulaptis; Councils should back cuts to red tape: NSW Farmers.
